Prep And Paint Help

[RonnyD]

Im painting plastic blanks. Do I need to seal before i spray a base coat? Can createx opaque white be thinned with water and used as a base coat? Any helpful suggestions is greatly appreciated.

[Big Bass Man]

You can use Krylon Fusion as a basecoat, can be bought at lowes or walmart. Patrick

[mark poulson]

I just dip them in acetone, to renew the virgin plastic surface, and then spray Createx, or another airbrush paint, directly onto them.

[RayburnGuy]

There is no need to "seal" a plastic lure. It's plastic and has no open pores like wood and therefore will not suffer water intrusion like a wooden lure. If the wood on a wooden lure comes in contact with water it absorbs some of that water and at the very least cause the paint to lose it's adhesion to the wood and in a worst case situation can cause the wood to swell up and split thus ruining the lure. Plastic lures don't have that problem so the plastic itself needs no protection from the water. All your doing by top coating a plastic bait is protecting the paint.

Createx can be thinned with water, but there are options to thinning with water. One is to use Createx 4011 reducer for water based paint. It's supposed to help with tip dry as well as thinning the paint. Another way of thinning acrylic paint that seems to be very popular in the airbrushing world is to use a mixture of Pledge with Future floor polish mixed with water and paint. If memory serves me correctly the ratio is 50% paint, 30% Pledge and 20% water. Here's a link to a thread discussing the use of Pledge.

http://www.tackleund...__fromsearch__1

White is probably used more than most other colors as a first coat on paint schemes. The white background makes the following colors appear more vibrant. But don't limit yourself to only using white. When spraying silver metallics I often spray it over a black background. And you can get different effects by spraying transparent paint over different colored backgrounds.

Prepping your plastic bait for paint is extremely important. It needs to have a smooth surface as the paint will only magnify any surface imperfections. It must also be dry and free from any oils. Some people wash their lures in a dish washing soap like Dawn and then dry them by shaking off excess water before hitting them with a hair dryer or heat gun. I used this process for quite a while until being told by Mark Poulson how he preps his lures for paint. After all sanding is done he gives his plastic lures a quick dip in clean acetone. This is much quicker than washing them in soap and then having to dry them. The acetone not only removes any oils that may be on the bait, but also flashes off quickly eliminating the need for drying the lure. And when I say "quick dip" I mean just that. In and out of the acetone. Leaving it in even for just a couple seconds and the acetone can start to dissolve the plastic.

hope this helps,

Ben

Mark ,

I see you posted your comment while I was typing mine. Just used you as a reference.

Edited September 29, 2011 by RayburnGuy

[mark poulson]

Ben,

That's okay. I need the royalty money.

[RayburnGuy]

Royalty money???

[BobP]

I use a white basecoat for most color schemes, but it's a color basecoat like RayburnGuy states, not a primer or sealer. I want the white to be as opaque as possible, so don't thin the paint before spraying. Rather than use Createx white, I like one of several "cover white" paints which contain a maximum amount of pigment to cover faster. They are specifically made for color basecoating. My favorite is Polytranspar Superhide White; shoots well, covers fast, dries fast to a harder than normal film coating.

[bassguy]

When painting my plastic blanks, I'll sand off all the mold lines where the bait was put together and then rough up the entire bait. Paying close attention to the mold line near the diving bill. Then prime with Krylon for plastic like Big Bass Man.

[RonnyD]

thanks alot for the info guys, I did notice from not sanding the blanks that the imperfections, as small as they are, will show through the paint. Im gonna lightly sand and dip in acetone and see how that works.

[RayburnGuy]

thanks alot for the info guys, I did notice from not sanding the blanks that the imperfections, as small as they are, will show through the paint. Im gonna lightly sand and dip in acetone and see how that works.

If you do your final sanding with a 400 grit or finer sandpaper and then give your baits a quick dip in acetone it will melt the small marks left by the sandpaper and give you a really smooth finish. Some folks say they like the small "scratches" left by 400 grit paper as it gives the bait some "tooth" for the paint to hold on to, but I haven't noticed any problems by spraying paint on a smooth surface as long as it's clean and free of any oils. This includes the oils from your skin that can be left behind when handling the bait while painting. It's my belief that as long as you apply a good top coat and apply it correctly over a properly applied coating of paint then you won't have problems with those underlying layers of paint. But that's just my opinion gathered from my short time refinishing lures. Others with vastly more experience have different viewpoints and as long as what they're doing is working then I'm not going to argue with them.

good luck,

Ben

[RonnyD]

How long do you guys wait after spraying createx paint to top coat it. im currently using d2t and thinning with DA.

[RayburnGuy]

I spray acrylic paint and thoroughly dry each coat of paint as it's put down and then heat it up again again once the painting is finished. I start clear coating right after cleaning my airbrush which only takes a few minutes. The biggest thing (for me anyway) is to be sure all layers of paint are dry and heat set if using water based paint. I've done this with DN, D2T, Etex and now auto clear and have had no problems doing it this way.

Ben

Edited September 30, 2011 by RayburnGuy

[bassguy]

I'm right there with you Ben. Once the paint is heat set and the brush is clean. On goes the finish. D2T.

[RonnyD]

what have you guys found that is the best way to apply the d2t. I have been brushing on after thinning with da, and putting alittle heat to the crankbait and then putting it on drying wheel to cure. Does anybody dip in auto clear coat?

[RayburnGuy]

what have you guys found that is the best way to apply the d2t. I have been brushing on after thinning with da, and putting alittle heat to the crankbait and then putting it on drying wheel to cure. Does anybody dip in auto clear coat?

Auto clear is a two part system that is mixed similar to epoxy. If you mixed up enough auto clear to dip a lure you would be wasting 95% or more as what is left after dipping will just harden in the container you mixed it in.

Ben

[bassnbrad]

Lets go back to the original Question... " Do I need to seal before i spray a base coat?" If you are painting the RC1.5 K.O. blanks with the front nook hanger in sideways, look at the Rear hook hanger closely. Out of a batch of ten, I had 3 that the hanger and body was not glued properly, and when I submerged one I had water get in the bait. So while you should not have to seal plastics, you should check all seams and hangers to make sure they are set properly. A dot of super glue fixed those leaks BTW. That's one of the cases where you get what you pay for I reckon.

[RonnyD]

when thinning d2t, can too much DA hurt the epoxy. What consistency would you guys recomend? Maybe i should look into getting an extra airbrush just for spraying auto clear....

[BobP]

Ronny, I mix up enough D2T for 2 or 3 baits, then add DA a few drops at a time until I get the viscosity I want.  You don't want it too thin.  I'm not looking for a thinner epoxy coating but to extend the "brush time" from a few minutes to 5-6 minutes.  There's really no "formula" - it depends on the ambient temperature.

I use the same system for undercoating wood baits, but in that case I use more DA, as much as 25-30%.  At higher thinning rates than that, the epoxy will still harden and waterproof but will not always form a thick enough film to hide wood grain.  And the DA itself will raise the grain slightly.  So if you thin too much, you'll need to sand the rough grain areas and recoat if the sanding gets below the hardened epoxy surface anywhere on the bait.  For a one pass undercoating, It's better to thin the epoxy less and get a thicker film that will level out to a smooth surface, hiding any raised grain in a single application.

Edited October 2, 2011 by BobP

[RonnyD]

thank you all for the help. I will post some pics soon of my progress.

[Richard Prager]

I would look for another vendor if the hook hangers are loose. Not all KO's come from the same factory

[RonnyD]

what kind of brush do you guys recomend using to apply d2t. The ones i have been using leave bristles on the crankbait and is really hard to get a good finish.

[BobP]

My favorites are the cheap Cornel Chinese bristle brushes with the green or purple translucent plastic handles with silver flake. I use the 1/4" flat square ones for topcoating. They came in a set of 4-5 different sizes that cost less than $10 at a craft store. If you clean them thoroughly with lacquer thinner, they last almost indefinitely. I tried cheap natural bristle brushes but they tend to shed hairs into the topcoat. Even with good cleaning, brushes eventually accumulate some epoxy at the base of the bristles, but mine have lasted 5 years so far and I expect to use them for another year or two.

[Richard Prager]

I use the black 3/8" black epoxy brushes. They run between .16 and .20 each depending how many you buy.I use them once and toss them. They work great with D2T and BSI. You can get them at any hobby shop or e-bay.

[RonnyD]

Im looking for a good gun to spray autoclear. I found one on harbor freight that had a 1.5mm tip. Is that the right size of tip to spray auto clear, the gun was a hvlp for 15 bucks. and how many coats does it take with the auto clear on a plastic blank? thanks